Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Yup, another week come and gone. On Sunday, only one of our investigators came
to church which was a little disappointing, but we were able to take 2 of our
investigators and one of our recent converts to the " Mission President's
Devotional". It is a fireside where recent converts are invited to come
share their experience with joining the church, and they get to bear their
testimony. It happens about twice a month. It usually switches locations
between the Independence Visitor Center and The Historic Liberty Jail. This
last Sunday it was at the Historic Liberty Jail. We were able to take our
investigators and recent convert through a presentation of the Historic Liberty
Jail before President's Devotional started. It was so great to hear the
testimonies of 6 recent converts. They were so sweet and powerful!

Going to the Liberty Jail, I was also able to see Sister Jacobs, one of the
sisters from my MTC District. She reminded me that today, Sunday, was the”7
Month Mark” of our mission! It kind of stressed me out, ha-ha! I also met with
my first trainer, Sister Halverstadt, who I get to go on exchanges with on Thursday.
I am so excited ! J I also saw Sister Grange from Washington State, who I lived
in the same apartment building with and served with at the Visitor Center for
the first 5 months of my mission. So, we had became great friends!! She goes
home in 2 weeks! I am going to miss her so much! I also saw another sister from
the Visitor Center that I went on exchanges with once and I also saw the
Visitor Center Directors, Elder and Sister Brenchley! It was awesome to be able
to see so many missionaries that I know! J

Otherwise we had another cool miracle this week. So, the Elder's gave us a
referral for a young woman in her 20's with a little girl. We went to go see
her for the first time and we knocked and the door. To our surprise a guy in
his mid-20's answered the door. In my mind I was quickly trying to decide if we
should ask for Alisha, the girl the guys told us to contact, or if we should do
our usual kind of door approach to see if he was interested. Well, Sister
Morris piped up and started talking to him and told him who we were (we didn't
mention Alisha). We found out he had just moved here from Blue Springs, which
just happened to be Sister Morris's last area. We found out he is more
spiritual and doesn't attend church, but he said he was a truth seeker. We
talked to him at his door for about 10 minutes, and then he was shivering like
crazy and asked if he could grab his coat. It was about -5C outside, so after
he grabbed his coat and came back out on his porch. We taught him about the
message of the restoration for about 20 minutes. It was so cool! He was so
excited when he heard about Joseph Smith's experience! We gave him a copy of
the Book of Mormon and invited him to read it and pray about it. He was so
excited and said that he accepts our invitation. We asked him if we could come
by another day, so we are going to see him on Thursday. J
It was so cool! He just seemed so excited about everything we asked him about
and taught him. He was absolutely right when he said that he was "seeking
for truth".

Also, on Thursday we are meeting at
Bishop's house to teach his neighbour family the message of the restoration, so
we are really excited for that. Bishop Walker is awesome! He has come up with a
plan to invite us over every Monday night for FHE along with three other member
families. Together we will decide how we can best help less-actives in their
area and also bounce off ideas of people they know who might be ready for the
gospel, to give us more referrals. Last Monday it worked really well. He
invited two families that lived in the same area, and we discussed who they
know, or who they are working with, that they want to share the gospel with.
They ended up discussing for a whole hour a list of people they want to share
the gospel with or invite to activities. So, we received about 3 referrals out
of it, which was really cool and helped make a game plan as to how they can
easily and non-threateningly share the gospel with these people. It was really
cool! I'm excited to see how this continues, because now the members are really
getting involved in the missionary work. It is awesome!

Actually the other day I was reading in Alma 22, the account of Aaron teaching
King Lamoni's Father about the gospel and it reminded me of how important the
help of members is. In verses 18-26 and Alma 23: 1-5, I’ll sum it up: basically
King Lamoni is struck dumb, the queen and his servants fear and are angry with
Aaron and his brethren because they don't understand what is going on. It isn't
until King Lamoni's father wakes up and tells them how blessed he is and
testifies to them about the gospel that their hearts are softened. (He shares the gospel with his friends/family
and bears his testimony- member missionary work). Then after telling them
about the gospel and sharing his testimony he invites Aaron and his brethren to
teach his household (referral).
Their hearts are softened (they
have fellowship from King Lamoni- member) and then they are baptized. They
all share their testimonies and King Lamoni tells them to go throughout the
city to preach, " ...and thus they began to have great success. And
thousands were brought to the knowledge of the Lord..." ( Alma 23:4-5). So
cool, the importance of member missionary work and the success that comes is
right in the scriptures! It is like Elder Luening mentioned about what
President Hinckley said: “If the members
would do their missionary work the number of convert baptisms would double!”

I love the gospel and I have seen how much difference it makes when members
really are involved with the missionaries and the success that comes when we,
as members and missionaries, are yoked together in the efforts of bringing
others unto Christ. I love you all and hope things keep going well. I hope you
are praying for and are seeking out missionary opportunities and take hold of
them when they come. I pray for you, love you and hope you see the blessings that
come from being so anxiously engaged in the work of our Father in Heaven.

Well, like everyone else this week in their e-mail, I guess I will begin
with "another week come and gone". It was really great to hear from
all of you. Kass, your story about the toddler wondering if you are pregnant
made me laugh! Elder Luening, I'm glad to see that you are still ridiculous as
always. But hey, I think your "boy band" picture could totally make
the cover of Teen Magazine, lol! Maybe you will be the next J Biebs, ha-ha!
Mom, I'm glad to hear that you have been able to handle everything well so far,
and that you haven't been super stressed out. Dad, I always love your e-mails
and your high council talks you send. They are always uplifting and inspiring.

Well, this week has been CRAZY!! (I probably say this every week). So the first
4 days of the week we didn't see much success but we worked hard. Then suddenly
during the weekend the heavens opened and Sister Morris and I seriously had so
many blessings pour out on us we really don't have enough room to receive it.
It is so awesome!!

So on Friday Sister Morris and I were in Plattesburg, and
that morning during comp study we discussed how we can come to recognize the
spirit more and be led to where we need to go. Well, we went out and ended up
at this apartment complex area. We were going to try a person at the apartment
#406. As we parked in the parking lot, I looked over and saw this one apartment
door that said 404 on it. I asked Sister Morris if the apartment # we were
going to try was 404, she corrected me and told me it was 406. After getting
out of the car, I asked Sister Morris again if it was 404, again she corrected
me. I just kept looking over at that door. So as I went to walk past, I stopped
and looked at Sister Morris and said, “We need to try this door.” She agreed,
and we knocked on it. Wel,l a lady in her late 30's answered. We told her who
we were and asked her about her religious background. She said she was more
spiritual than religiou, because she didn't go to any specific church. We
continued to talk with her and she invited us inside. We asked her about her
three daughters who were 3, 5 and 13. She told us she never went to church
because she felt like she just didn't belong anywhere. We taught her about the
restoration and the importance of families. She said that she would read the
book of Mormon and pray about it and said we could come back on Tuesday. It was
so cool! And it was really ironic how we started off that morning feeling like
we are terrible at recognizing the spirit and then it was ultimately the Spirit
that led us to her door!

On Saturday, Sister Morris and I taught our investigator, Scott (the goat man).
We read over 2 Nephi 31 with him and tried to help him see the importance of
baptism and what it will do for him. We were able to resolve some concerns he
had about baptism and our Ward Mission Leader came with us to teach him. It
went really well. We found out the main concern he has is that he doesn't like
big groups of people and he is very emotiona,l so he is worried he will cry in
front of people at his baptism. He committed to being baptized on February
15th, and we are hoping we can help him feel more comfortable by then. He also
hasn't come to church yet because of his social anxieties. After meeting with
him, we went to visit a less-active member. She has a lot of non-members living
with her right now and as we met with her and a lady named Tracy that lives
with her, we found out that Tracy wants to learn more about the church. She
also really wants to come to church. So it was a double miracle because we found
a new investigator who will be a great pusher for getting our less active
to come back to church.

Then Saturday night we got a call from M. (18 year old
investigator who we decided to drop on Thursday because he stood us up three
times in a row and wasn't keeping his commitments). Well, it is 9:30pm and we
get a call from him. I answer the phone and he told us he was coming to church.
He told us he knows the Elder's recent convert, Melanie, and that he will be
coming to church with her tomorrow. We were really excited! Then he proceeded
to tell us that he really did still want to learn, and asked when he could get
baptized. I was in shock and had to get my bearings for a second, then invited
him to be baptized on February 1st. After hanging up the phone Sister Morris
and I sat in shock trying to figure out what just happened. Then Melanie texted
us and told us she would be bringing another friend to church named Marissa who
wants to start meeting with missionaries. At 9:57pm we got another call from M.
He told us he had read 1 Nephi 1 and prayed about it. It's crazy how an investigator
having fellowship with someone from the church can make the biggest difference!
Before he was really quiet and didn't seem too interested, and now he
is so excited and just eager to learn and change his life. So on Saturday we
were able to get 3 new investigators and 2 investigators on date for
baptism....IT WAS A HUGE MIRACLE!!

M. and Marissa, Melanie's friend, came to church and we were able to set
up an appointment to teach them that night at a member's home, the Thompson's.
The Thompson's are the most amazing member missionary family I have ever seen!!
They allowed the Elder's to teach Melanie in their home and even now after her
baptism have invited her to come over nightly for scripture study. They are
amazing. They have a daughter on a mission and now they are excited to have Marissa
and M. in their home for us to teach. Also earlier in the week, Bishop told
us his non-member neighbours would be coming to church on Sunday and he
wanted us to come to dinner on Sunday evening to teach them. They came and they
loved church! They told us they felt so welcome and it felt like family. They
told us they want to learn more about the church and have been wanting to find
a good church to go to and raise their boys in. They are going to come next
week, and Bishop told us he would set up teaching appointments with them and
let us know! He had also invited another non-member family for dinner who are
from Mexico and work for him. They were so sweet, and Bishop ended up giving
them copies of the Book of Mormon in Spanish, and the wife promised she would
read it. He is amazing!! So all of a sudden in the course of 24 hours we
went from having 1 new investigator to 6 new investigators, and 5 of them came
to church!! It is amazing!! And it was all because of the Lord and our members,
it definitely had nothing to do with us!!

Sister Morris and I have been
MEGA blessed!! We're excited to see how our investigators progress and we are
even more excited to see how enthusiastic our members are right now about
missionary work! We hope that fire keeps burning! This Wednesday we have
interviews with our Mission President, so I am excited for those, and otherwise
things seem to be looking up! Our poor Elders started the week
off with having 7 investigators on date, now they are down to one. We aren't
kidding when we say when they are up we are down, and we are up they are
down. It is ridiculous! I wish all of us could just be up all the time.
Anyways, I love you all and hope you have a great week!!

Holy Cow, Elder Luening, sounds like you had a close
call....I think that might have been the spirit telling you not to keep
walking, ha-ha! Glad you were protected. Mom, Dad, Kass, Scott, and Jeremy I'm
glad you had a great New Year's. Sister Morris and I lit a sparkler, but
otherwise we were told to do our normal missionary routine. So, we were outside
until 9pm and then went to bed at 10:30pm and the next morning said "Happy
New Year"! J

Another week has come and gone, and it is soooo COLD!! Today they actually shut
down the Kearney schools because the temperature in Celsius is -20
outside with a -35 wind-chill!! CRAZY!! Even President Keyes told us not
to be outside because within 8 minutes if your skin is exposed you will get
frostbite, causing permanent damage. That includes your face. So it is cold!!!

Last week was hard, but we were diligent and we were
blessed! All week we basically just tracted, and on Thursday we had
such a huge miracle. The night before in our planning I felt like we needed to
put a half hour break in between our studies and our weekly planning (which we
never do), and after the break planned out the rest of our activities. Well the
next morning about 10 minutes before we finished our studies, the sisters
called us and said they were in a predicament and needed a ride somewhere. The
ride we gave them ended up taking up that 30 minute time slot perfectly. We
followed the rest of our plans that day and it was amazing. We happened to
catch a less-active just at the right time at her house, and we were able to
spend 30 minutes talking with her, and she said she just kept telling us that
she appreciated the visit so much and really needed it. Then as we left and
were driving down the road, an investigator we dropped a few weeks ago was
riding his bike. We waved to him and pulled over. He expressed to us he still
wants to keep learning and we were able to set up an appointment with him for
this week. Then we stopped by another less-active and we just dropped in at the
right time because she had just gotten off the phone, after being on hold
forever and we were able to make some real break-throughs with her. So the way
everything was timed and fell into place was incredible!!

The weather the last few days has been kind of crazy. But, we have been blessed
to have been given a car for the whole month of January. On Saturday we had
appointments fall through and we didn't have too much success
tracting, but we worked hard and we knew blessings would come. On Sunday Church
was cancelled because a snow storm had rolled in the night before, but we were
encouraged by our Zone Leaders to still go out and work, but drive carefully.
Sister Morris and I planned the night before that we would tract out a few
apartment complexes. The first two doors we tried didn't want to hear what we
had to say. Sister Morris already isn't a big fan of tracting, and so she told
me she just needed a few minutes to get in the mindset. I gave her a few
minutes to collect herself, and then we up to the second floor. Well, the first
door we tried on the second floor, a Chinese lady answered. Her daughter and
mother were there. We told her why we were knocking on her door and she
invited us in. We had a great discussion with her daughter who was our age. She
was an exchange student from China going to school in Arizona. Three of them
didn't know very much English, but the daughter said when she goes back to
Arizona in a few days she wants to develop her own faith and find out what her
beliefs are. We left her with a mormon.org card
and she said she would check it out. We tried a few more doors but nobody
answered. We headed to another apartment complex and said a prayer. The
first door we knocked on, a lady answered and Sister Morris started
telling her about the restoration. She said she was Lutheran and I
asked her if she ever wondered what church was really
Christ's church. She said she had. Sister Morris and I related
Joseph Smith's experience and the Spirit was so strong. It was incredible!! We
left her with a Book of Mormon, invited her to read and pray about it and asked
if we could come back. She said we could, so we are going back on Tuesday. She
was seriously a miracle and she seemed so sincere.

I'm so thankful for the gospel and for the spirit. I'm
thankful that God's promises are real. That as we work diligently and move
forward showing the Lord our faith that He will bless us. He won't withhold
blessings from us. Sister Morris and I worked hard and even though we
had some crazy and disappointing experiences along the way, we were able
to find that one soul who needs the gospel and is ready for it. The other
day I was reading in preach my gospel and there was a quote by Elder Dallin H
Oaks that reminded me of our purpose as missionaries. He said, " We
do not preach and teach in order to 'bring people into the Church....We do not
preach and teach in order just to persuade people to live better lives....We
invite all to come unto Christ by repentance and baptism and confirmation in
order to open the doors of the celestial kingdom to the sons and daughters of
God. No one else can do this".

As missionaries we are not just enabling others to live better lives and be
happier, although that is a wonderful blessing from living the gospel. But we
are here as missionaries to bring others unto Christ. That phrase "bring
others unto Christ". It is as much literal as it is spiritual. The process
they go through may be a spiritual journey at this time, but
ultimately as they accept and live the gospel of Jesus Christ, God will
"open the doors of the Celestial Kingdom” and they will literally be
brought back into the presence of Jesus Christ and their Heavenly Father. What
a miracle that is, what a blessing to be a part of. To be able to literally
help others come to Jesus Christ! I'm so grateful for this gospel. I'm so
grateful to be led and guided by men who hold the priesthood and truly are
inspired in our day to lead us and direct us. Without the priesthood we would
be lost. The priesthood is real, the gospel is true and as we follow its
teachings in patience blessings come.

It was awesome to be able to see you on Christmas Day. It
was kind of funny because afterwards the family who let us Skype at their house
kept asking us if we were doing okay. They were so worried that our Skype home
would make us sad afterwards. But I didn't feel sad at all, I was just glad to
see everyone! J
I realized afterwards that I should have asked you guys more questions...because
I did a lot of talking. But, I guess I will keep that in mind for Mother's Day,
ha-ha! Mom and Dad, I can't believe your Mission President had the whole
mission read the whole Book of Mormon in one day! That is crazy!! But I guess
that means you were able to accomplish one New Year's resolution in one day
then! J

The last 10 days have been full of ups and downs and finally
on Thursday I decided I needed to get a blessing. Everything just kind of
caught up to me. I was getting a little down on myself because our
teaching pool has been empty for quite a while and all we have been
doing is tracting and in the course of 4 hours of tracting, we only have the
opportunity to talk to maybe 4 or 5 people if we are lucky. So, on
Thursday night I received a Priesthood blessing from our Elders. It was
probably one of the coolest blessings I have ever received. It really
helped me! The next morning I read through D&C 8 and 6,
which later I realized were the sections dad told me to read when I
was in the MTC. Section 6 is such an amazing section and is filled with so much
good stuff! I'm so thankful for the power of the priesthood, the Holy
Ghost and the scriptures. Through those three things I was definitely given
more optimism and we worked really hard this weekend and we saw miracles. Our
investigator, Scott is progressing. He read 1 Nephi 8 and he told us a lot of
goals and aspirations he has for himself. We tried to help him see how the
gospel of Jesus Christ can help him accomplish those goals. A big goal for him
is to develop a greater relationship with his daughter. Also we were able to
find a new investigator named Kayla. She is in her late 20's and has a few
kids. We left her with the Book of Mormon which she said she would read and
pray about. We are excited to see how she felt about it.

On Saturday night we attended Melanie's baptism, the Elder's
investigator. As we pulled into the parking lot, we saw President and Sister
Keyes get out of their car. Sister Morris and I started freaking out
because we were speaking at the baptism and our mission President was now
in attendance as well. The only thing that went kind of wrong was that the
Elders didn't fill the font full enough and so after two attempts at baptizing
Melanie, they ended up doing the baptism on their knees. But her
elbow or foot came up after another 3 attempts to baptize her, so finally
on the sixth try it was good! Overall it went really well
and President and Sister Keyes brought such a sweet spirit to that
baptism. Melanie brought her mom and her friend. It was kind of funny because
we had randomly ran into Melanie's friend caroling on Christmas, so it was
awesome to see her at the baptism. She also ended up coming to church. We
can't teach her though, because she is in Kearney 1st ward boundaries, so the
1st Ward Sisters are working with her.

Church was interesting. So, I had to speak on Sunday and I
spoke on the character of Christ and mostly used the example of Satan tempting
Christ while he was fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. I guess it went well.
Then we missionaries sang silent night in Sacrament Meeting. I was
supposed to do a descant, but my voice wouldn't let me, so I just sang it
normal. Melanie's friend, Courtney came to church and it was so funny, because
she asked if the guys and girls split up during Sunday School because
she gets uncomfortable sometimes around boys. She said, "especially
when we have to discuss awkward topics". I tried to help her overcome
her concern by telling her that we wouldn't be talking about anything
uncomfortable,and that Sunday School is
awesome....Well, we went into the gospel principles class and guess what the
topic was,….. that's right, THE LAW OF CHASTITY!!! Seriously, what are the
chances that out of 52 Sundays in a year, the one Sunday we really didn't
want it to come up, it came up! It was actually really funny!

Also, Relief Society and Priesthood were combined
for the last half of the meeting. We had a really neat experience in which
the Bishop involved all of the auxiliaries in coming up with some Ward goals
for the upcoming year. He had each auxiliary come up with a reactivation and
new member goal. After all the auxiliaries came up with a goal he had them come
together and the total Ward goal came out to be 36 baptisms and 30
reactivations. It was so inspired and it made each member in the ward feel
accountable to those numbers because they took part in their own auxiliary. I'm
really excited to see how this will motivate the Ward to really be anxiously
engaged in more member missionary work. Well, things are going well and I am
trying to see the miracles every day, and they are there. I love you all and I
hope the move keeps going well with Uncle Blaine. Kass and Scott enjoy your
time with Mom, Dad and Jeremy. Elder Luening, keep up the great work in Germany
and I'm glad you had a great Christmas! J